The Company

Since its launch in 2003, HEP provides nostalgia to fans of the adventure games of the nineties. We seek to re-create the wonder and excitement of exploration, an aspect many modern games overlook. We invite the player to manipulate the game world, interact and solve, not merely destroy.

Adventure games proved the perfect vehicle for our creativity. While growing up, we adored the classic LucasArts’ adventures (titles like Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle). We reveled in the sheer depth of their design. Unique, exciting, polished-- every element extolled the skill of its makers. It was a multimedia religious experience.

Since those games, we haven’t found anything that reaches the top rung of the ladder. Celebrating our roots, we began to write out ideas and plans, experimenting with creation techniques. With the AGS engine, we found the catalyst for our dreams. If our games can awaken fond memories of your adventure gaming past, HEP is successful.

While nostalgia runs strong, we believe the adventure genre stands on its own merits. Few other game types balance interactivity with narrative, a combination that produces a powerful player immersion. In this genre, the player realizes design nearly immediately. The adventure can’t trust art direction as a crutch, but rather an enhancement. Because of this, the genre sets a challenge for any designer.

Our mission doesn’t just stop at making games, however.

We seek to cultivate a community of aspiring adventure game makers. With our experience, we can help with any aspect confronting the amateur developer. Don’t be afraid to post art, music, dialogue, or ideas. As one fellow enthusiast to another: welcome!

The Logo

The image refers to the mythology of the Ancient Greeks. According to these tales, Hercules needed to perform twelve tasks to regain his honor. For one of them, he temporarily took the job of the giant Atlas: holding up the world. This monumental feat parallels the difficulty involved in a computer game. You may note the three holes in the top of the world, which we added for portability. Also bowling.

The Team

Ian Schlaepfer – After his graduation from Penn State, he moved to New York City, where he worked in the mobile game industry. After ten months, he quit his job because the building houses the slowest elevator in Manhattan. His hobbies include drawing, writing, fencing, weightlifting, and getting lost on the subway and ending up in Brooklyn.

Greg Schlaepfer – When he’s not amazing his college music teachers, Greg plays keyboard and/or bass in several Californian bands. In addition to composing and sequencing music, he enjoys listening to jazz, funk, Jaco Pastorius, and combinations of the three. Any technical problems with the site should be blamed on him, since he stands by on webmaster duty. His shift ends…never.